3rd T20I: Mark Wood sets up India’s top-order collapse with fiery powerplay spell

Express English pacer Mark Wood struck early in the third Twenty20 International match against India on Tuesday to dismiss the opening pair of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul and put the visitors in prime position to edge ahead in the five-match series. 

Wood missed out on the second encounter on Sunday due to injury, with skipper Eoin Morgan confirming he had pulled up after the series opener on Friday and had to be replaced by pace all-rounder Tom Curran. 

Morgan admitted his side were missing Wood’s pace up front during the loss on Sunday and the Indian batsmen were unable to handle the 31-year-old’s fiery spell in the powerplay overs. His fastest delivery so far was recorded at 155.2 kmph. 

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Opener Rahul was the first to return to the pavilion, recording his third consecutive failure – and his third duck in four innings – in the series after he was bowled by Wood in the third over. 

A length delivery from Wood jagged back sharply towards Rahul and found the gap between bat and pad to end his short stay in the middle.

Rohit, featuring in his first T20I since February last year, perished in the fifth over as he tried to take on a bouncer, which clocked in at 146.7 kmph, mistiming his pull shot to find Jofra Archer at the fine-leg boundary. 

Wood also dismissed Shreyas Iyer, who tried to cut a short, pacy delivery for a boundary but only found Dawid Malan at the deep-point boundary. 

Skipper Virat Kohli is currently unbeaten at 39 and is trying to rebuild India’s innings, which stands at 101 for the loss of five wickets from 16 overs.